Card Season
by Genie For Your Wish
Summary: Christmas cards were good for another purpose, it seemed. — NarutoSakura.


Just a word of warning, this was supposed to be Christmas themed but I guess it turned a little weird. I don't really know. This story seems completely random and it's like word vomit to me but maybe you guys would like it? OTL, enjoy! (I hope).

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Naruto.

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><p>"Do we really have to make one for everybody?" the village's notorious knucklehead ninja complained for the nth time that evening, directing his whines toward a rather annoyed medic ninja.<p>

Sakura looked up to glare at him, her features contorting into an irritable scowl. "Naruto for the last time, _yes_ we have to make one for everybody! Now stop your whining and just keep making them. We only have thirty more left," she snapped before resuming the task at hand.

The blond groaned unhappily, directing a glare toward the folded blank piece of paper in front of him. It was only his seventh one but he was still getting frustrated. Sakura had decided to spend their date night making Christmas cards for their friends rather than go through with walking around the village and watching the fireworks like they had originally planned. She claimed that it was a Christmas tradition of hers to creat homemade Christmas cards and since they were now a couple, she wanted to share it with him too. When she had put it that way, Naruto couldn't seem to refuse her offer, and agreed almost immediately. So now they were stuck inside Sakura's apartment – her parents were out so they had the whole place to themselves – making Christmas cards for all their friends, and they had _a lot_ of friends much to Naruto's chagrin.

At first, he thought that making Christmas cards wasn't so bad. He really did think that the tradition of hers was pretty neat. By creating homemade Christmas cards, one could convey their true wishes of having someone celebrate the holiday with joyous thoughts as well as really show them one's appreciation for being by their side. It was a pretty heart warming gift, especially because the cards were homemade and weren't just tacky ones bought at the story.

It was with these thoughts that he had been able to finish about two within the span of ten minutes, carefully decorating them, even though he wasn't exactly the best artist out there, and writing a heartfelt message he hoped would get communicated properly across. However, the more that he made them, the more that he found the task daunting. It wasn't exactly the fact that there was a lot of cards to make, because there were _a lot_, though Sakura already had pre-made ones before he even arrived, no it was more because he was slowly running out of ideas.

Naruto's brain was being sucked dry. He couldn't exactly let the creative juices flow when he didn't have any left. All this decorating and drawing and colouring was taking a toll on his mind. The blond was never the creative type in the first place, which explained a whole lot behind why his creative juices were already running dry by the time he got to the third card. He wanted to make each card unique, but from the way he was going and judging by the last three cards he had just made, they were all turning out to look the same. They all had that same lopsided Christmas tree which had exactly three baubles each and a rather warped looking star. Surrounding the tree were crooked presents as well as failed attempts at drawing holly. All in all, the designs lacked taste and looked tackier than the ones found in the store.

And if the fact that the designs were getting repetitive with each card wasn't bad enough, the heartfelt messages he had taken upon himself on writing were all getting pretty repetitive themselves. Naruto was finding that he had unconsciously begun saying the same things to people who were completely different by nature and whom he had completely different relationship dynamics with. The messages were getting bland and he found that he couldn't exactly pour his heart and soul into each message like Sakura did. Naruto wasn't the creative type, nor was he a man of words. He preferred actions and simplicity more than anything, but it was unlike him to go back on his word. He said that he would make Christmas cards with Sakura and he couldn't go back now. That wasn't how Naruto Uzumaki rolled after all.

He knew he shouldn't have chanced it, but he was just getting so frustrated that he couldn't help but let another complaint slip. "Are you _sure_ we have to make all of them one? We could always just cut a few names out. No one would notice Sakura-chan," he suggested with a slightly roguish tone.

Sakura looked up once more as her eyebrows furrowed in bewilderment. "What?" She spat out, utterly bewildered at his uncharacteristic behaviour. Sure Naruto could be a complete pain and quite the prankster at times, but he was still Naruto. He wouldn't willingly do anything to hurt his friends. Even though it was small, she knew that he knew that not making a Christmas card for anyone he cherished would cause even a little pain.

So to see him even suggest doing such a thing made her quite mad. "We can't just do that Naruto. These are your _friends_," she emphasised, "you should give one to every one and no one is to be left out."

Naruto began to regret saying such words but he was becoming quite irritable with the situation. "I know, I know, but I've got no ideas Sakura-chan. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I need Sai here. At least he's creative," he replied with a weary tone.

Sakura's eyes softened but she wasn't letting him get out of it that easily. "You agreed to make Christmas cards with me Naruto and as far as I know, you never go back on your word so show me your nindo in action."

And with that, Sakura turned to start on yet another card, leaving Naruto to his thoughts.

The ninja's eyes diverted to the list he was given of all the names of people whose cards he was supposed to make. Sakura had told him that she specifically entrusted him with these people because she knew that he held a more special relationship with them than she did. The next one on the list happened to be Gaara, one of his closest friends from the Sand.

He sighed. It wasn't that he didn't want to make Gaara's card yet because he very much did, in fact he had a few ideas as to what he wanted to add in his message, but he really wasn't feeling it. Naruto wasn't in the mood right now to create Christmas cards, unless of course he could make one for Sakura.

His sapphire eyes gazed lovingly at the pink haired kunoichi who was working in utmost concentration on her card, a little bit of her tongue sticking out to signify her intense focus. Naruto found that she was looking even more beautiful when she was concentrating on something she was passionate about. He didn't know why, but perhaps he just like the way her determination became so strong and the way she was just so motivated.

As he continued staring at her, a thought popped into his mind. Sakura didn't say that he couldn't make one for her did she? In fact she just said that he had to make cards for anyone on the list and anyone he thought was missing, which meant he had absolute freedom to go through with his plans.

With that thought in mind, he let a wide grin grace his lips as he set off to work, a certain medic nin in mind.

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><p>Sakura sighed in satisfaction as she completed creating yet another successful card. She had found that as the years rolled on, she was getting quite better at creating these Christmas cards. Added on to the fact that she had spent quite a bit of time with Sai lately discussing his artworks, she found that her creative juices seemed to just keep on flowing. The girl had just finished her seventeenth card and she still had the motivation to keep on going. It was like she was on a roll.<p>

Before she was about to start drawing what she had in mind, realisation belatedly dawned on her. Sakura noticed that her blond companion had yet to complain in that last thirty minutes. In fact, he had been oddly quiet after that little spat they had a little while earlier. Confused and very much concerned, she discreetly turned her head to sneak a peek at what her boyfriend was doing.

Naruto was hunched over the desk, his arms suspiciously covering the card he was currently working on underneath. He had his head bowed down lowly and he was facing away from her, making him seem all the more suspiciously. She couldn't help but wonder why he was acting so secretive. Was he up to something?

At that thought, her eyes narrowed as a frown etched itself onto her face. Naruto was up to something, something big. She had a gut feeling that whatever it was it would eve rather big reactions. Positive or negative reactions, she didn't know but she had a foreboding feeling that it was the latter. Sakura wanted to confront the male and demand to know what on earth he was up to when she realised that she could not. Naruto was making Christmas just as he had been asked so she couldn't exactly confront him about it, not when she had any logical reasoning to back her up.

She sighed as she turned back to look at the folded piece of paper on her desk. She figured that she should just continue with the task at hand but a nagging feeling from the pits of her stomach was making her all the more curious. She couldn't help it any long. Sakura wanted to know what Naruto was doing, and being the highly skilled ninja she was, she predicted it would be easy. But then again, it was Naruto she was talking about and the boy was highly unpredictable.

"Are you okay Sakura-chan? You've been frowning for the past five minutes," a voice commented, breaking her out of her thoughts.

Her head whipped around to face the jinchuuriki who was looking at her in concern. Sakura hadn't realised she had been frowning; she guessed that she was just too caught up in her thoughts that it had become an unconscious action. She contorted her features into a smile before nodding happily at Naruto.

"I'm fine Naruto," she waved him off. "I was just thinking about some stuff. And by the way, how are your Christmas cards going?" She asked cleverly, keeping a sharp eye out on his reaction.

A faint pink blush graced his cheeks as his eyes looked frantically away. "Uh, I'm doing fine I guess. I'm on my tenth card," he tried lying as best as he could, attempting to recompose himself.

Sakura raised an eyebrow in curiosity at his reaction. It appeared that that one question had gotten him all flustered. Now she just had to find out what he was doing with that one card he seemed so secretive about.

Placing a pleasant smile on her face, she nodded. "I see, that's good then. I'm sure you're doing great," she replied as cheerfully as she could before turning away hurriedly to cover her face.

She needed to get to the bottom of this. And fast.

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><p>Naruto felt as though Sakura was trying to spy on him. Perhaps it was just him but he was definitely certain that he had felt her eyes pierce his back a few times, and when he turned around, she would always be working on a card on her own. He had shrugged it off at times, thinking that he was just imagining things but it had become more frequent that he couldn't help but get suspicious.<p>

It was worrying him however. If she did find out about what he was doing, he knew that he would get an earful for possibly using up all his time on making a Christmas card for her when he could've made several more for the rest of his friends. But at the end of the day, Naruto knew that it was worth it. Sakura wasn't just any other friend he had.

She was his teammate, his best friend and most importantly, his girlfriend, the love of his life. He had a special connection with her, which was why he was willing to sacrifice everything just for the sake of her happiness, whether it be big or small. He was sacrificing his time just to create something special just for her, but he knew it was all worth it. Sakura was always worth it, he commented mentally, inwardly grinning like the lovesick fool he was.

Which was why he was hoping to the heavens that Sakura wouldn't find out. He had caught her snooping a little, in fact it was quite funny now that he thought back to it.

Naruto had been minding his own business, in the middle of trying to figure out how to phrase the next sentence when all of a sudden he heard a slight shifting behind him. Of course he shrugged it off as Sakura moving around to get more equipment, but when the noise grew even louder, he couldn't help but look back in curiosity.

His cerulean eyes met the scene of Sakura holding a mirror up above rather suspiciously as she placed her other hand on her hips in an awkward pose. She had a forced smile on her face, leaning against her table as she stared at him.

"Umm, don't mind me Naruto. I'm just, I'm just trying to fix my hair that's all," she blatantly lied, fixing her fringe and patting it down. She gave him another smile for emphasis, continuing to mindlessly mess with her hair as she tried putting up a convincing show.

Naruto watched the girl skeptically, although there were twinkles of amusement shining within his eyes. "Uh, sure Sakura-chan. Whatever you say," he responded awkwardly, turning back around.

"Wait, Naruto. I have something to ask of you," she suddenly called out just moments after he had turned back around. Dropping his brush, he turned back around to face the girl with a curious expression on his face.

"What is it Sakura-chan?"

She looked at him nervously, biting on her lip as her emerald eyes looked around a bit in a frantic haze. "Can you, can you come closer?" She motioned for him to come closer, beginning to confuse the poor boy.

He obeyed nonetheless, although he was becoming quite scared at the situation. When he had come a closer distance to her, she slightly grinned. "Close your eyes Naruto," she commanded gently, waiting for him to flutter his eyes shut.

Once his cerulean blue orbs were out of sight, Sakura grinned triumphantly to herself. "Good, now keep your eyes closed," she told him as she moved around him.

Naruto had grown quite nervous with the situation and before he was able to stop himself, he reflexively took Sakura by the wrist, stopping her from venturing forward. The girl was startled at the sudden contact as she gazed down at his hand that was trying to stop her. "Naruto?" She asked uncertainly.

He looked upwards, eyes still closed. "Uh, sorry about that Sakura-chan. It was a reflex action," he stated nervously before finally pulling away.

Sakura's heartbeat had grown rapid the moment his hand gripped her wrist. She was so nervous. How did he know what she was going to do? Did he even know what she was going to do in the first place? But he had let go so she assumed that she was safe. With that in mind, she continued venturing forward as quietly as she could, attempting to look for the card he was working on.

Naruto only heard a loud 'Dammit!' before he finally opened his eyes, looking at her in concern. "What happened Sakura-chan? You look angry," he commented, noting her frowning expression and balled fists.

She waved him off in disappointment, marching over to her desk before plopping herself down, leaving a flummoxed Naruto in place. He didn't know what had just happened but as long as she hadn't seen his card, he knew that he had done good.

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><p>Sakura wanted to scream. How was it that she wasn't even able to get a good view of his work when he was obviously so far away from the table? She didn't get it. It was the perfect chance and due to certain circumstances, she had been unable to figure out what the hell the boy had been doing the past hour.<p>

She bit her lip in frustration. Naruto was making her want to pull her hair out. Why couldn't he just be straight forward and spit out what the hell he was doing? It would make life a whole lot easier for her.

Before she knew what was happening, she felt a pair of warm hands cover her eyes, enshrouding her in complete darkness. She was tempted to punch the person in the stomach but she had felt the familiar chakra radiating from the person behind her and she had immediately calmed. It was only Naruto, but even so, what the hell did he think he was doing?

"Naruto, what are you doing?" She demanded, placing her hands on top of his.

She could feel him grin sheepishly at her. "Sorry about that Sakura-chan, but I wanted to give you something," he said to her.

Now she was curious. As she was about to open her mouth to speak, she found that he had removed his hands from her eyes and was now standing nervously in front of her, clearly hiding something behind his back. She cocked her head to the said, waiting for him to say something.

Taking this as his cue to speak, he cleared his throat. "I know you've been spying on me Sakura-chan," he could see Sakura about to retort but he shot her a knowing look, immediate silencing her. "But I don't think that was necessary. You were going to find out anyway, because I wanted to give you this. Merry Christmas Sakura-chan."

He pulled out a small card from behind his back, placing it into her awaiting palms. Realisation dawned on her when she had finally pieced things together. So he had been making a Christmas card for her? All this time it was all just for her? She may have to give him a little scolding for that, but still. The boy was an idiot, and she really couldn't blame him. He was _her_ idiot. It was all that mattered anyways.

She looked at the card more closely, the front cover making her slightly giggle. It was a badly drawn picture of her wearing a reindeer headband and making a peace sign. Surrounding her were crooked looking shapes that may or may not have been a failed attempt at holly and a few golden bells. Sakura moved to open the card up, a wide grin making its way onto her face as she dropped the card, enveloping Naruto in a bone-crushing hug.

"You knucklehead!" She cried. "Of course silly. But in five years time of course. Merry Christmas to you too," she responded, looking as joyous as ever.

Naruto grinned back. "I knew you would say that."

Lying on the ground with its contents open for the world to see was the Christmas card that the famed jinchuuriki made for his medic nin girlfriend. Inside the card, a small message was written that took almost an hour to think of. But then again, Naruto was never a man of words. Only actions.

_Will you be my Mrs Clause? – Naruto Uzumaki, aka Santa Clause_


End file.
